Sunfire (Marvel)
Sunfire is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Shiro Yoshida (Japanese: 吉田 四郎, Hepburn: Yoshida Shirō) was a Japanese male who was the son of Saburo Yoshida and his wife the Mrs. Yoshida. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64)
During World War II, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima leaving it a smouldering ruin and had left his mother a hopeless invalid as she was located many miles from the center of the city. She came to be pregnant and later died several years later after giving birth to her son Shiro. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64) He also had a sister by the name of Leyu Yoshhida. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #392) In the aftermath, his uncle Tomo Yoshida helped his father to raise the young Shiro who grew to adulthood. One day, his uncle took him to the site of ruined Hiroshima where his Mutant powers first manifested much to the suspicion of Tomo Yoshida. Tomo then instilled a hatred of the West in his nephew and began training him in his abilities where he was given the name Sunfire. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64)
At this time, his uncle Tomo Yoshida wanted to make a demonstration of Japan's power to the world and intended to use his nephew for the task. In this moment, Tomo had learnt of the research of Lord Dark Wind that could bond the unbreakable metal Adamantium to a human skeletal system. Yoshida had intended for this to be used to create an army of invincible warriors that could be used to defeat their enemies. To acquire the research, Yomo had hired the services of the mercenaries Mystique, Rogue and Blindspot. Sunfire was set to join them on his first mission in stealing the data from Lord Dark Wind's research facility in the Tokyo Bay. His powers were invaluable in fighting off Lord Dark Wind's followers but he was knocked out in the attack with Rogue using her powers to temporarily assume his abilities which caused further fires in the bay. In this time, Lord Dark Wind managed to escape with the hard drives containing his research thus denying Tomo Yoshida access to them. Thus, he was forced to go forward with his plan without the Adamantium and simply rely on Sunfire alone. (Rogue v3 #10)
X-Men
By this point, his father was heading a diplomatic mission to the United Nation's being held in North America. Learning of this effort, his brother Tomo Yoshida prepped Shiro to secretly sabotage his efforts. (X-Men v1 #64)
His father begged Shiro to end his attacks with the confused Sunfire torn between his father and uncle. Saburo commented that Tomo was a sick man who was overwhelmed with hatred of a long dead war and asked his son to renounce him. Shiro then pleaded to his father that he could not choose at which point his uncle pulled out a gun to kill Saburo Yoshida. He came to reach his father who was dying and in his last moments he asked his son to forge peace from the chains of war. As he died, Shiro held his father in his arms as he grieved the loss of Saburo Yoshida. (X-Men v1 #64)
In Tokyo, he shut down the actions of an American supervillain named the Corruptor. He then attended the event at Tokyo University at the unveiling of a new part of the campus with this being sponsored by noted businessman Dr. Kishi Oramosha. However, Oramosha had revealed that he had become a supervillain named Deadline where he intended to help further collapse civilisation around the world so that mankind would unite to save the planet. Shiro turned into Sunfire and attempted to destroy the doomsday device that Kishi Oramosha had installed in the new part of the science wing of the campus. Yoshida was stopped by Deadline who used an exoskeleton that hurt the superhero with his confidence being shot as he believed Kishi Oramosha was invincible. This was until his class fellow a French exchange student named Erin convinced him that Deadline was as human as he was with Sunfire journeying to the machine where he gathered solar energy from it which he used to destroy the device. The resultant destruction thwarted Deadline's plans who was then arrested by the authorities. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #32)
He came to serve as an operative of the Yakiba (Japanese: Cutting Edge) that were a branch of the Japanese military that were responsible for maters of security and served as their super-powered Mutant agent. (X-Men v2 #93)
Shiro later returned to Japan where prior events had broke his pride which when combined with the fact that Japan had forgotten him as their atomic hero led to him falling into a period of self-loathing. It was in this time that he was approached Wolverine who wanted to recruit him to join the newly formed Avengers Unity Division. At first, Shiro refused as he claimed Sunfire had retired but was convinced to return to his the mantle and serve as a hero on the team. Wolverine informed him about the Red Skull violating Charles Xavier's telepathic brain, which prompted Sunfire to accept the offer. When revealing their roster to the public, the team was attacked by the Grim Reaper, who was accidentally killed by Rogue. (Uncanny Avengers v1 #5) Sunfire joined the Avengers just before Apocalypse's Clan Akkaba had its leadership taken by the Apocalypse Twins. As their first action, the twins assassinated a Celestial Gardener, catching the attention of S.W.O.R.D.'s director Abigail Brand, who invited Captain America and Sunfire to the Peak for help. Clan Akkaba's Ship attacked the Peak forcing its occupants to escape. When Captain America's escape pod did not function, Sunfire sacrificed his own to save Captain America. (Uncanny Avengers v1 #7)
House of X
After the establishment of the nation of Krakoa, Shiro was one of many Mutants that came to reside on the living island that was the home of their people. Around this time, the Earth came under attack from Knull the God of Symbiotes who he had sent to invade the planet. He came to encase the entire planet with symbiote matter leading to the Krakoans coming under siege. Around this time, a S.W.O.R.D. strike team arrived from orbit through one of the gateways with them emerging when Sunfire was battling a Symbiote dragon. Despite his flames, the creature badly injured Shiro but he was empowered by Fabian Cortez's powers giving him the strength to ignite into a miniature sun to destroy several of the dragons. (S.W.O.R.D. v2 #2)
As such, Sunfire came to be part of the new team of X-Men which were stationed at the Treehouse that was grown in New York City. The team came to respond to an alien mech that was attacking the city. To fight it, Polaris used her powers to create a mech of their own with this being fuelled by Sunfire's flames where they ultimately defeated their opponent. (X-Men v6 #1) He next aided the team when a bottled Annihilation Wave was unleashed to consume the Earth where the X-Men worked to keep it contained enough to allow Sunfire to unleash his full power to incinerate the alien insectoid swarm. (X-Men v6 #2) Afterwards, the X-Men faced the threat of the High Evolutionary and ended up having to battle his New Men. Despite their attack, they were unable to defeat their foe though Synch offered some of his blood that intrigued the High Evolutionary who then departed peacefully. (X-Men v6 #3)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Shiro Yoshida was a young Japanese male with short dark hair. It was his uncle who outfitted him with his costume that were in the ancient colours of the nation and gave him the name of Sunfire. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64)
Shiro grew up hating America for the bombing of Hiroshima with this being drilled into him by his uncle. Tomo Yoshida had been responsible for fanning the flames of the hatred felt by Sunfire. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64)
His father was Saburo Yoshida who was was part of the Japanese diplomatic delegation to the United States. Due to his uncles influence, he came to see Mr. Yoshida as a snivelling spineless fool who was a traitor. Saburo believed that old quarrels were dead and must be forgotten. Despite coming to hate his father, Shiro refused to strike him and believed it to be blasphemous to hurt him with his powers. In fact, he believed that his father was simply confused and mistaken after living among American's for so long. This view changed after his father had been killed as he came to see how his former beliefs on his father were wrong and regretted the events that led to his death. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64)
He was noted for having a sister by the name of Leyu Yoshida. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #392)
It was noted that Sunfire had a grandfather who was in Nagasaki during World War II. When the atomic bomb fell in the city, his grandfather was exposed to the radiation and ultimately died of radiation poisoning. (Alpha Flight v2 #7)
Powers and abilities
Yoshida was notable for being a powerful Mutant who manifested his powers in adulthood. This power was said to be akin to the blazing fire of the sun that he could project from his fingers. His body was said to be capable of storing and discharging these energies similar to the sun itself. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64) Such was his power that he was regarded as being among the Earth's Alpha-level Mutant. (X-Men v2 #97)
He could generate incredible heat from his hands. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64)
Even in a weakened near dying state, he had such precise control over his abilities where he could erect a wall of atomic flame to protect himself and others from an enemy attack. (Sunfire and Big Hero Six v1 #3)
By harnessing his powers, he came to learn that he was also capable of the power of flight. Shiro was capable of attaining incredible flight speeds allowing him to depart the scene quickly. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #64)
He retained use of the suit composed of unstable molecules from his brief tenure with the X-Men. By stimulating the molecules, he was able to switch between his Sunfire guise and his ordinary clothes. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #32)
Through Apocalypse's augmentations, he could secrete bio-oxygen to feed his lungs and his flames even in space. (Uncanny Avengers v1 #8)
Notes
- Sunfire was created by Roy Thomas and Don Heck where he made his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men v1 #64 (January, 1970).
Alternate Versions
- In New X-Men v2 #16 (2005), an alternate version of Sunfire appeared in the House of M reality designated as Earth-58163 in the Multiverse. Sunfire became the Emperor of Japan. Under his rule, the country had prospered, though the poverty levels were extremely high among the baseline human population. In secret, Sunfire was one of the masterminds of Project: Genesis, a project sanctioned by the Japan branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the goal of forcefully mutating baseline humans. When the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives-in-training dubbed the Hellions investigated a terrorist attack, they discovered the existence of Project: Genesis and its link to Emperor Sunfire. Sunfire lied to the Hellions and told them that Project: Genesis's purpose was to recycle organic waste into food for poor baseline humans.
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Sunfire appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "Sunfire" where he was voiced by actor Jerry Dexter.
Video games
- In X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Sunfire appeared as a playable character in the third-person adventure game where he was voiced by actor James Sie.
Appearances
- Uncanny X-Men v1: (1970)
- Marvel Comics Presents v1:
- X-Men v2:
- Rogue v3:
- Uncanny Avengers v1:
- All-New X-Factor v1:
- S.W.O.R.D. v2: (2021)
- X-Men v6: (2021)
External Links
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